Release travels to me through the icy waters of my beloved river Beas. Not drenched in apprehension but in lightness.
As I wade across its blue-green, glassy waters, head down, inverted images of Kangra’s snow-wrinkled mountains scuttle around me. Surface reflections of upside down deodars with spiky leaves, conical crowns, level branches and droopy branchlets sway with liquid grace.
Mermaid-brave, I eddy past these lures towards the deep end. This to complete my ritual of immersion - scales, fins, tail and all. And to find my very own restful quietus.
I now call this inviolate part of the underworld ‘home’.
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